FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., March 18, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As part of its proactive and innovative initiatives to recruit and retain qualified professional pilots, Silver Airways today announced a preferential hiring partnership that will facilitate building career opportunities for new aviators.
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Under the partnership, Silver will offer preferential interview and hiring opportunities to qualified first officer candidates who have graduated from the college's Professional Pilot Technology degree program.
"We look forward to growing our pilot base and providing career opportunities for qualified candidates from Broward College," said Silver Airways President and CEO Dave Pflieger. "As a local partner with an excellent reputation for training qualified pilots, Broward College's FAA-certified Aviation Institute provides the ideal candidates that we're looking for to join Silver's flight operations team."
"The agreement between Silver Airways and Broward College gives our aviation students a direct link to employment opportunities," said Broward College President J. David Armstrong, Jr. "We are excited to partner with a local company that serves our community, and we look forward to developing this relationship to help our students succeed."
In addition to this partnership with Broward College, Silver is pursuing other innovative pilot recruiting avenues, including $6,000 signing bonuses for new pilots, $2,500 employee referral bonuses, and exploring options with schools on launching possible tuition and scholarship assistance programs.
About Silver Airways
Silver Airways Corp. (IATA: 3M) is a U.S. owned and operated airline operating approximately 170 daily scheduled flights to/from 38 destinations in Florida, the Bahamas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio. The airline, which offers more flights within Florida to the Bahamas than any other U.S. airline, has valued partnership and codeshare agreements with United Airlines and interline agreements with American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue and US Airways.
Silver is a 2013 two-time award winner, having been recognized by its industry and the traveling public. In February 2013, it was named the recipient of Air Transport World's (ATW) 2013 Regional Airline of the Year Award, the first U.S. airline to win regional aviation's top honor since 2008. This award recognized Silver's outstanding achievements, as well as the company's contributions toward elevating the entire regional aviation industry overall. In October 2013, Silver was named one of the Top 10 "Best U.S. Airlines" in the prestigious Condé Nast Traveler's 26th annual 2013 Readers' Choice Awards.
The Silver fleet is comprised of Saab 340B Plus aircraft (with a capacity of 34 passengers in a spacious, noise reduction equipped cabin), each powered by highly reliable, fuel-efficient GE jet-turbine propeller engines. The airline also operates Beechcraft 1900D aircraft (maximum seating capacity of 19 passengers) in the airline's Cleveland network.
The company is privately owned by Victory Park Capital, a Chicago-based investment firm that launched the airline in May 2011.
Visit Silver Airways at www.silverairways.com.
About Broward College
Broward College is ranked as one of the top ten community colleges in the nation by the Aspen Institute. Serving more than 68,000 students annually, Broward College provides residents with certificate programs, two-year university-transfer degrees, two-year career degrees and baccalaureate degrees in selected programs. The mission of the college is to provide high-quality educational programs and services that are affordable and accessible to a diverse community of learners. For more information, visit www.broward.edu.
About the Broward College Aviation Institute
Established in 1966, the Aviation Institute links the College's Judson A. Samuels South Campus with North Perry Airport. The Institute is the only public facility in Broward County dedicated to the training of aviation professionals, offering on-site flight training, a 7,000-square-foot hangar, a flight lab, air maintenance workshops, student facilities, state-of-the-art flight training devices, air traffic control simulation, aircraft maintenance training equipment, FAA computer-based testing, online courses and staff examiners to help prepare students for aviation careers in the 21st century. For more information, visit www.broward.edu/aviation.
